


Chapter 9: The Paladins’ Monday Morning Workout

by PlanceGardener21



Series: Days and Nights in the Garden of Voltron [9]
Category: Voltron Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Hunay, Romance, kallura, plance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:59:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21566494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlanceGardener21/pseuds/PlanceGardener21
Summary: The Garrison has a training deck, an improved version of the one the Paladins had onboard the Castle of Lions, complete with a very convincing Virtual Reality mode, not unlike the X-Men’s Danger Room or Star Trek’s Holodeck. This is an action packed chapter with hints of Kallura and Hunay, and the ending will definitely water your Plance.
Relationships: Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance/Pidge | Katie Holt, plance - Relationship
Series: Days and Nights in the Garden of Voltron [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1554187
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Chapter 9: The Paladins’ Monday Morning Workout

At 0800 on Monday morning, the Paladins met at the Garrison’s training deck for a mandatory combat simulation. The Altean technology from the Castle of Lions was the foundation of this enormous new training area that the Garrison had built, not just for the Paladins, but for the future trainees of the Defenders Project that the Holts were developing. Even though Pidge had helped her father design the platform, the scenarios were so varied that even she would be surprised by most of them. She had asked Matt to do most of the programming for their training so that she would not know what kind of dangers they would face. Coran and Shiro had also given Matt some suggestions on the specifics.  
Keith had arrived early, and was in the control room with Coran, who would be operating today’s simulation. Shiro and Matt had arrived shortly afterwards to observe and evaluate the results of the exercise.  
Allura and Pidge were on the deck by 0750, and when Lance and Hunk arrived, Lance saw that the princess was helping Pidge with her unruly long hair, braiding it tightly so that it would fit under her helmet. “Good morning, Ladies!” Lance called cheerfully. Pidge made a little wave and smiled at them.  
“Good morning, boys!” Allura replied as she finished helping Pidge with her hair.  
“Good morning!” Hunk replied.  
“Thanks, Allura. My hair is so much trouble. I am thinking about cutting it again.”  
“Aw, don’t do that. Your hair is so pretty, Katie,” Lance said, never taking his eyes off of her. She blushed a little as she averted her gaze and smiled. Hunk gave Allura a knowing glance, and the princess lifted her eyebrows at him, looked at Lance and Pidge, then back towards Hunk. Hunk knew what the princess suspected, and he gave her a little nod. Allura looked happily surprised.  
Keith walked out onto the deck. “Good morning, team. Today’s combat training exercise is an infiltration of a Galra pirate vessel. It’s the flagship of a large fleet of destroyer drones that are maneuvered in tandem by a slave circuit, which is controlled by a computer system that Pidge must hack before the flagship’s main reactor goes critical. Our coalition fleet is engaged in battle with the pirates and they have managed to partially disable the flagship, so our time is limited. To complicate things further, we have discovered that there’s also a small group of kidnapped citizens of the coalition worlds that are being held for ransom, and we must find them before we escape. If we fail, the fleet of destroyers will attack one of the coalition colony planets nearby, killing millions of colonists. We will have 25 doboshes to get through the maze of corridors to the brig and the main control room, complete the mission, and escape to our lions before the ship explodes. Reprogrammed Galra sentry bots will be playing the role of the pirates, but there are a few surprises onboard the ship, so expect the unexpected. Ready?”  
“Ready!” they all replied. The plain white platform was transformed into the grey corridors of the pirate flagship, dimly lit by an eerie purplish glow. Klaxons blared and there was the sound of running metallic feet as the sentries charged, firing their energy rifles at the Paladins who drew their Bayards and activated their shields as they charged into the onslaught. Lance took out half a dozen sentries with his rifle, and Hunk incapacitated half a dozen more with his canon. Allura and Keith defended Pidge with electro whip and sword as she ran to the nearest terminal to find the location of the kidnapped citizens. When she found them she transmitted a map to everyone’s wrist displays.  
“There are three of them. I’ve sent you their locations.”  
“Great work, Pidge. Hunk, Allura, come with me to rescue the prisoners. Lance, go on with Pidge to the main control room,” Keith ordered. Lance was the most logical choice to defend Pidge while she worked. He could strike the enemy from a distance with his rifle and defend her in close quarters with his sword.  
“Twenty doboshes remaining,” Coran’s voice announced over their helmet coms.  
“Let’s move!” Keith shouted, and they went their separate ways.  
Keith, Allura, and Hunk had to fight their way through a corridor full of sentries who were dressed in pirate gear and wielding both energy pistols and swords. After making short work of this obstacle, they entered a larger room consisting of several levels of gantries and cells. The area was filled with guards, one of whom was a huge, troll-like creature who carried a massive club. He swiped at Allura just as Keith pushed her out of harm’s way. Hunk opened fire on the creature, distracting him as Keith attacked the sentry guards, slicing the several bots to pieces, but just then even more sentries poured into the detention area brandishing their weapons. The Paladins were vastly outnumbered. Allura rushed to locate the three prisoners and release them from their cells. Romelle, Shay, and Axca soon emerged from the cubicles that Allura had opened. “I think we have some more allies in this fight,” Allura called to the others.  
“Shay!” Hunk shouted. “Get her out of here!”  
“I want to help,” the Balmeran girl said as she moved toward the battle. Axca and Romelle had already picked up fallen energy pistols and were combating the sentries nearest them. Shay used her size and strength to her advantage in the conflict, hurling sentries left and right, while Allura ran towards the troll-like monstrosity. She leaped onto its back and encircled the creature’s thick neck with her whip. It screamed in agony as she sent electrical currents through its artificial hide and android body. The pirates opened fire on Allura, knocking her down from the monster’s shoulders. Her armor protected her from the worst of the blast, but she fell to the deck, stunned.  
“Allura!” Keith screamed. He ran towards her.  
The troll-like creature was still disoriented from Allura’s attack. Hunk spotted a row of gantries and empty cells above the monster’s head and opened fire with his most powerful missiles, collapsing the structure on top of the monster.  
Keith had lifted Allura’s unconscious body from the deck while Axca and Romelle provided cover for them. “We have to get to the hangar now! We are running out of time!”  
“But what about Lance and Pidge?” Hunk asked, running after the others.

The corridor ahead of them was blocked by four pirate sentries with energy swords. Lance shot the first one who changed at them, but dodged as the second attacked with its sword. Lance’s Bayard transformed to its Altean broadsword form and he engaged in a furious duel with the bot. Pidge had managed to short-circuit the third sentry with her Bayard, but the fourth pirate sentry seized her, picking her up from the deck and holding its sword to her throat. She screamed. Lance heard her just as he had just sliced the second sentry in half, and while his sword was still in motion, his Bayard transformed back into a rifle. In one fluid movement, he aimed and fired at the pirate’s head, blasting it off of its shoulders. Pidge jumped down from its embrace as it collapsed. “Way to go, Sharpshooter!” Lance grinned at her.  
“Ten doboshes!” Coran announced from the observation deck. Sam and Colleen had come by to watch the training exercise, unbeknownst to the Paladins. They watched as Lance and Pidge ran through the corridor towards the control room. 

Keith helped a very groggy Allura down the passageway to the hangar where the lions were protected by their particle barriers. “Will you be able to fly?” He asked.  
“I think so,” she straightened to her full height and saw that Hunk was already leading Shay aboard Yellow Lion. Romelle took Allura’s arm and led her towards Blue, and then Axca quickly followed Keith towards Black Lion. 

The control room was filled with sentries, but Lance and Pidge took them out in a matter of moments. Pidge ran to the main terminal as Lance opened fire on the sentries that poured through the open doorway. Pidge’s fingers flew over the key pad as row after row of data scrolled up the display screen. “Hurry! Pidge, there’s too many of them!” Lance continued to pick them off.  
Pidge didn’t answer him. Even if the flagship was destroyed, she had to send out the signal to disable the destroyer drones, or they would continue on their predetermined plan of attack on the colony. The program that she was trying to hack was one of the most complex she had ever seen. Her brow was damp with nervous perspiration. She began to panic.  
The last of the sentries had been taken down by Lance’s sword, just as Pidge yelled, “I’m in!”  
“Five doboshes,” Coran announced. 

“Red and Green just took off without them, Keith,” Hunk’s voice announced over their comm channel.  
“Lance, Pidge, report in. What’s your status?” Keith asked from Black Lion’s cockpit.  
“She’s reprogramming the destroyer drones now,” Lance replied.  
“Keith, Red and Green have flown away from the battle, far beyond the blast radius. The coalition flight group has disengaged as well. The destroyers are almost to the planet’s surface!” Allura cried, despair in her voice. “They will never make it out in time.”  
“Red and Green would never abandon them like that, would they?” Hunk asked. “How will they get to their lions?!”

“Pidge, we have to go now!” Lance yanked her from the terminal pulling her towards the corridor.  
“There’s an airlock to the left side of the next corridor,” she said, and they ran towards it.  
Just then a sentry opened fire on them from behind. Pidge fell to the deck. Lance turned and blasted the robot to pieces. “Pidge! Are you alright?” He knelt beside her, then helped her to stand.  
“My suit’s Okay, But my jetpack isn’t.” Lance opened the airlock and pulled her inside.  
“Then you’ll just have to hold onto me. Don’t let go.”  
“I won’t.”  
Lance opened the door to the hull, and they were pulled into the vacuum of space. Pidge was holding on to him with her arms and legs wrapped tightly around him, and Lance clasped her to his chest with all of his strength. Screaming, they tumbled through the void. 

Allura was monitoring the drone attack. “The destroyers...they’ve stopped!”  
“Pidge’s hack worked!” Hunk exclaimed. “But where are they?!” Hunk and Allura both had tears streaming down their faces.  
“Keith?” Allura called.  
Keith didn’t respond. His eyes went blank, and he glowed with quintessence. Black was communicating with him, telling him what he must do. He inserted his Bayard into its port, and suddenly Black Lion was no longer there.

Lance had activated his jetpack and was flying away from the inevitable destruction of the flagship. He held Pidge close to him. She was sobbing. “We aren’t going to make it.”  
Just then, Black Lion appeared out of nowhere, his mighty jaws open to catch Lance and Pidge, then teleport away to where Red and Green were waiting for them. The flagship exploded, bright as a nova.

“End simulation,” Coran said, and everyone in the control booth stood in shocked silence. The Paladins, along with their rescued “hostages” were once again standing on the white floor of the training deck: Hunk and Shay, Allura and Romelle, Keith and Axca... But Lance and Pidge were floating in midair, still clinging to each other as the antigravity field lowered them to the deck. They were both breathing heavily, and when they landed, they took off their helmets.  
“That was terrifying,” Pidge said weakly. Lance hugged her.  
“It was so realistic. I thought we were going to die,” Lance admitted. They were both shaking. 

“Well done, team,” said Shiro, who had just come down from the observation deck.  
“Keith has unlocked Black Lion’s ability to teleport,” Allura said proudly.  
“Hunk and Allura managed to take down the troll by working as a team,” Keith added.  
“And Lance’s combat scores are the highest he’s ever earned,” Shiro added. “His Bayard transformed from rifle to sword and back again, and he used those transformations flawlessly. I have never seen him fight like that.”  
“I had the right motivation,” Lance said. “My mission was to protect Pidge.” Lance had his arm around her shoulders, and he gave her a little squeeze. She blushed and smiled shyly.  
“Pidge, That slave circuit program was designed to be unhackable in the time you were given. What you did was nothing short of astonishing,” Shiro said with admiration for the youngest Paladin.  
“She saved the entire colony from the destroyer drone attack,” Hunk added.  
“Outstanding work, everyone.” Keith had his arms around Allura and Hunk. He gave them each a side hug, then moved to hug Lance and Pidge. “I’m really proud of you two,” he said while hugging them both simultaneously.  
“You saved us, Keith,” Pidge said.  
“Yeah, man. You were amazing.” Keith gave Lance a little pat on the shoulder.  
“The whole team was amazing. Let’s hit the showers and meet up at the Paladins’ lounge for lunch.


End file.
